Fatehpur school protest: Class 12 student alleges police harassment after infrastructure agitation

Fatehpur (UP): A Class 12 student who led a protest over poor infrastructure at a government school here alleged that police harassed him and other students by visiting their homes after the demonstration, a charge denied by police.

Ankur Sonkar, who emerged as a face of the protest at Sarvodaya Inter College in Kishanpur where hundreds of students from Classes 6 to 12 staged a nearly five-hour protest at the school on July 28, claimed policemen in plain clothes visited his house and other students after the agitation and asked their families to report to the police station.

The protest, which demanded basic facilities such as safe drinking water, electricity, functional fans, clean toilets, adequate furniture, a library, a computer laboratory and sports infrastructure, ended after district authorities assured them that work on the pending issues would begin within 24 hours.

Student alleges police harassment after protest

"After we protested for hours, officials came, accepted our demands and work started at the school. We felt we won our fight. But by evening, police personnel in civil dress started coming to our house.

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They asked my parents where I was and said we would have to come to the police station," Sonkar told reporters. He alleged that police also visited the homes of other students who participated in the protest. "If we raise our voice for basic facilities, should police act like this?" he asked.

Police deny harassment allegations

Rejecting the allegations, Fatehpur Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Mangalik told PTI that personnel from the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) and the Child Welfare Police Officer had visited Sonkar's residence only to understand the issues raised by the students and gather information about the school. "There was no ulterior motive behind the visit. Neither the student nor his family was harassed in any manner," he said.

Mangalik said Sonkar is a juvenile and police personnel visited his residence in plain clothes in compliance with child protection guidelines and court directions. He reiterated that no student or family member had been subjected to harassment or intimidation. District Magistrate Nidhi Gupta Vats said the students' demands were genuine and the administration had already initiated corrective measures at the school. Regarding the allegation that police visited students' homes, she said the exercise was undertaken only to maintain law and order and ensure that no anti-social elements took advantage of the agitation.

Missing student case investigated separately

Meanwhile, police said the disappearance of a 16-year-old girl from the same school was unrelated to the students' protest. According to her family, the girl left home for school on July 28 but did not return. The family lodged a missing-person complaint at Kishanpur police station the next day. Her mother, Asha Devi, said the girl's classmates and teachers confirmed that she had reached the school on the day of the protest.

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Mangalik said CCTV footage showed the girl carrying a bag containing clothes. The footage showed that she later changed her school uniform and was seen leaving with another person. He said police had examined the mobile phones of the girl and her family.

The preliminary investigation suggested that she had been in contact with someone, and efforts were underway to identify and trace the person. Police teams have been sent to Maharashtra and other places as part of the search operation. Station House Officer Manish Kumar Singh said the probe so far indicated that the girl reached the school but left after the protest with another girl.